Beach Safety : Safety Advice

Millions of people enjoy spending time at beaches around the UK every year. Being aware of the dangers at the beach and spotting the hazards will ensure that your visit to the beach is a happy event and does not turn into a tragedy. When visiting the beach, especially if you have children with you, consider the following:-

Spot the dangers Do a check of the beach when you arrive. Notice whether there are lifeguards available, whether the tide is in or out, are there rocks, piers, groynes or breakwaters that may affect paddling and bathing. Is the beach busy? Are there watersports taking place, are these in zoned areas? What are the sea conditions like, does the beach shelve steeply?

Take safety advice Try and choose a beach that offers a lifeguard service and swim where the patrol operates, within the area of red/yellow flags. Look for safety information which may include warning signs and know what the flags mean:-

Red and Yellow – Lifeguards on patrol. Two flags at the waters edge denote where the patrolled bathing area is.

Red – Dangerous to bathe or swim and you should not go into the water.

Quartered black and white flag – shows that an area is zoned off for watersport activities, swimmers and bathers should avoid this area, it is not safe for them.

Go together Children should always go with an adult, not by themselves. Don’t swim alone. Make sure that you know where everyone in your group is. Constant supervision is the only real means of ensuring your child’s safety.

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50 ways to save on your holidays

Richard Browning

SCHOOLS are clamping down on parents who take their children on holiday during term time. At best, to get permission for even one extra day off at either end of a holiday requires a degree of form filling and letter writing that wouldn’t be out of place in a Soviet police station. Even then, the final decision rests on the whim of the chairman of governors. While the difference a day makes to a child’s education is unquantifiable, it can add thousands of pounds to the price of a family holiday. But with this option of saving money virtually outlawed, how do you stick within the rules without breaking the bank?

Here are some examples from the article on how to save money on your holiday. Visit “Holiday Money” to read the holiday article in full.

4. Travel on the ferry at unsociable times After years of outrageously high fares, the cross-Channel ferry operators have woken up to the fact that people aren’t prepared to pay up to £600 to cross a stretch of water so short you can see the other side from our shores – especially as you can fly to Spain for a few quid. As a result, fares have plunged and if you can travel at night, it’s even cheaper.

5. Stay at home A change is good as a rest so why not move into the spare room or swap rooms with your kids for a week or two. It’s free and can be great fun – especially if you can agree to swap roles so the children do all the cooking.

6. Share the cost A holiday home that sleeps 12 people isn’t usually six times more expensive than one that sleeps two. So if you can bear to share with friends or family you could save a packet.

Why book a room in a crowded hotel when you can rent a private villa with swimming pool – we feature villa rentals with pools in Spain, Portugal and Cyprus and 51 other Countries across the World.

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22. Visit cheap countries Sounds obvious but take Greece – once a cheap option for a family holiday. Rampant inflation on the back of its entry to the euro and its new-found upmarket view of itself as Olympic host and European football champions, it has become relatively expensive. Italy on the other hand is still delightfully reasonable.

23. Don’t use the Gatwick Express If you’re travelling from central London to Gatwick airport or vice versa you have a choice or rail operators. The non-stop Gatwick Express, which charges around £24 one way for an adult, and the two-stop Southern service, which takes FIVE minutes longer but costs a mere £9. Note: For the Heathrow and Stansted Express services it’s less clear cut as the alternatives, though cheaper, can be overcrowded and therefore less reliable.

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31. How to locate cheap train tickets Since the railways were privatised, unearthing cheap train tickets can seem impossible. But it’s really quite simple. There are basically three types of ticket. The ‘cheapo’, available if you book 28 days or more in advance; the just-about-affordable if booked 14 days or more in advance; and the forget-it, which is what you’ll pay in the last week before you travel. Best is to check individual websites for details. Tip: For peak periods at Christmas and Easter the ‘cheapo’ tickets go on sale about eight or nine weeks before the respective festive period and by ‘cheapo’ we mean around £25 return to cross most of the country rising to three or four times the price if you leave it to the last minute.

32. Don’t fly on Fridays or Saturdays Useless advice if you want to get away for a week at half-term but during the summer or Easter if you can fly on weekdays you can save a lot of money. BA.com has a useful fare search tool that allows you to select the cheapest day to fly.